by Joshua James
Rhule and Lee had a couple of things in common. One that really stood out in that moment was how hard they were to read. Their body language and tones of voice gave little hint as to what they were thinking or feeling.
“A counterattack,” Lee said without hesitation. “Take out or take over Europa, and the path to Mars and Earth’s moon is clear. Take out Earth’s moon, and Earth is vulnerable.”
“Exactly so,” Rhule said calmly. “That’s what the AIC intends to do, as revenge for losing our capital. This is one last all-out offensive meant to end this war, either in victory or defeat.”
Lee cocked his head. “But you have your doubts?”
Ben sensed it too, and he wasn’t nearly as perceptive as his father in these little games. Rhule clearly wasn’t on board with his side’s plans.
A muscle twitched in Rhule’s neck. He glanced at Engano. “I do.”
He turned again to face the image of the warships outside. “We’ve never had the resources to match the UEF. We didn’t in the beginning or the middle, and especially not now that we’ve lost our capital planet.”
Ben thought the destruction outside was an indication that they were correcting that, but Rhule seemed to read his mind.
“We had the element of surprise here, which allowed us to overwhelm and defeat the blockade whose remains you see out there in the void.” Rhule turned away from the display. “But now that’s gone. The UEF knows we’re coming.” He paused. “Now add this new alien wrinkle that you and Madam Director here have provided, which leads me to doubt that it was even the UEF that attacked our capital world in the first place. In fact, I have reason to believe that there’s conspiracy afoot.” He took a seat behind his desk.
“Conspiracy?” asked Ben.
“Oh, it gets good here,” Engano said. “One of my agents on Earth’s moon. Their last few reports were disturbing, to say the least. They said that people have been mysteriously disappearing in the lunar facilities. Scientists, military personnel, and dock workers have been showing up torn to shreds.”
“Torn to shreds?” Ben asked. “Like how the Shapeless leave their victims?”
“Exactly. Now, these bits of information are coming along with reports of mysterious deliveries to the moon’s warehouses and docks. Waterman-Lau left, closing down all their shipbuilding operations. And then the latest bit, the most disturbing one: the UEF military has taken over, implemented martial law. From what I’ve been told”—Engano paused here to lick her lips—“the UEF seems to be working with the Oblivion cultists to maintain order.”
“That’s—” started Ben.
“Impossible? I’m afraid not. We lost communications with my agents a couple of days ago, after they reported ‘processing centers’ popping up all over the Lunar Dome and the dark side. Sound familiar?”
“Does your command—generals, admirals, Senate—do they know this? Do they know about the Shapeless?” asked Lee.
“They do,” Engano said.
“And they don’t believe it,” Rhule said. “They’re dead set on the idea of getting their vengeance or dying trying to. In fact, Commodore Thorne is already down there on Europa right now, with a mission to wipe out any and all UEF presence.”
“He’s a fanatic, all right,” Engano offered, as if she were discussing the man’s general temperament.
Ben raised one eyebrow. “But you’re not going to join him?”
“No, I’m not. Neither is my admiral, or the 4th War Fleet.”
“Why not?” asked Lee.
“Like I said, I believe that there’s more going on beneath the surface. We”—Rhule nodded at Engano—"managed to convince Admiral Wulff as well. We’re on hold as the admiral reaches out to command and his fellow admirals to redirect our efforts towards peace talks and fighting our true enemy.”
“Why did you take this meeting with us?” Lee asked. Ben looked sideways at his father, but Lee’s eyes were boring a hole into Rhule. Ben sighed. His father wasn’t one to hide his thoughts. “Surely you don’t need us, Captain. At least, not yet.”
“Because I respect you, Captain Saito.”
Lee looked nonplussed.
“And because I owe my life to you.”
For the first time, Lee seemed to be caught off-balance. “How so?”
“The Battle of Acheron.”
Lee furrowed his brow. “That was a long time ago.”
“You had command of a battleship,” Rhule said.
“The Glasgow,” Lee said.
“After the UEF crushed our small fleet, you were tasked with cleaning up and taking prisoners. The other battleships simply destroyed the surviving members of my fleet. You hesitated. You hesitated, and allowed me and my crew to escape. You hesitated long enough that I knew it was an invitation to retreat. One that I took.”
Lee was silent for a long moment. “I remember that.”
“So do I,” Rhule said simply.
Lee was thoughtful. Ben could feel what his father must be thinking. Rhule was returning that long-ago favor with an opening of his own right now, one that Lee had to take advantage of.
“I need a favor, Captain,” Lee said. “One that might save all our lives.”
Rhule grunted. “That sounds like an easy favor to grant.”
“I doubt it,” Lee said. “I need a stealth interceptor.”
The Interceptor-class fighters were some of the smallest ships in the galaxy to boast near-FTL speeds. They could also be outfitted with firepower capable of challenging a mid-size cruiser. And last but certainly not least, they were rare and highly-prized assets.
Ben expected Rhule to laugh them right out of his office. Instead, Rhule surprised him by asking only a single word: “Why?”
Lee glanced at Ben, then back to Rhule. “Long story short, Captain?”
Rhule nodded. “Please.”
“I need it to go to the human-occupied planet where the Shapeless first arrived, and retrieve something called a Herald Stone. Then I’m going to fly to their home planet and send that Herald Stone back to them on a nuclear-tipped warhead.” Lee’s voice was calm and clear, like he was describing the sanest thing in the world instead of the most ludicrous one. “Ending this threat once and for all.”
Rhule took a moment to think about what he’d just been told. Then he accessed his HUD. “HUD, call Corporal Hood.”
Ben and Lee looked at each other. Engano finished her drink. She set it down on the coffee table in front of her quite loudly.
“Corporal,” Rhule said after a moment. “Ready one of the interceptors. Make sure it’s got a full load: nukes, fission bombs, and tracker shots. That’s right. How soon?” Pause. “You have an hour. HUD, end call.”
“You’re going to give me a ship?” Lee asked, the slightest edge of surprise in his voice. Even Lee Saito didn’t have enough of a poker face to bury that much emotion.
Engano actually chuckled. “I softened him up.”
Rhule ignored her. “I am. Putting aside how crazy that plan you just laid out was, the evidence I’ve seen is dire. Long shots might be the only shots we have left.” He paused again. “Besides, like I said, I owe you my life.”
Lee began to thank him, but Rhule held up a hand. “But there’s a catch.”
“What’s that?” asked Ben.
Rhule pointed at Ben. “You aren’t going with him.”
“What?”
“I need you. We need you to talk to the UEF. Your experience with them and your relationship with the great Captain Lee Saito here means that you’ll be more effective at this task than any of us.”
“No. Absolutely not,” Ben said. “I’m going with my—”
Ben felt Lee’s hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Lee. His father was sad but also smiling, making an unnerving mix.
“No you’re not, son. I’m smart enough to know that this is my mission. This is my wrong to put right. None of this had to happen, if it weren’t for me.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Ben said. “This wasn
’t your fault!”
“You’re needed here,” Lee said firmly. “No one else knows as much about the Shapeless as you do.”
Ben looked at Rhule, who just frowned sternly back.
Engano looked apologetic but no more supportive. “It’s what needs to happen, Ben,” she said.
“This is bullshit!” Ben exclaimed. But even as he raged in protest, he understood that the wheels were already in motion. Nothing he did was going to stop anything now.
An hour later, as he and his father walked behind Rhule toward the Veruvian docking bay, Ben was still pleading his case, however pointless it was. “I just….I finally just saved you. And now you’re going to go off on a suicide mission to an alien planet?”
“I doubt Captain Rhule would like to think that I’m taking his expensive ship on a suicide mission.”
Ahead of him, Rhule shook his head. “I’d never think that way, but I’d never discount the possibility.”
Ben could appreciate Rhule’s candor while still wishing he didn’t need to spell it out.
“I’m sorry, Ben,” Lee said. “I wish there was another way.”
“You’re sorry,” Ben said, shaking his head. He held back the words, but in his mind his response was swift.
That’s it!? ‘Hey, son, sorry I disappeared after your mom died. I know you went to great lengths, including leaving the military, to go out and try to find me. Then you found me, and I decided to go and get myself killed anyway. But it’s all good, ‘I’m sorry’. No, that’s not enough.
Ben fought back tears as they walked. Tears of anger and frustration. Anger at his father, maybe? Anger at himself, since he’d brought Lee here. Anger at everything.
“I have to do this,” Lee said firmly.
Ben was silent. He’d say anything and everything he could to stop his father, but nothing would work now. He knew that.
“Here it is, Mr. Saito,” said a deckhand who appeared next to Captain Rhule. A salute for Rhule but not even a rank for me, Lee thought. No surprise. Considering they’d come aboard as prisoners, this was all pretty confusing for anyone who didn’t understand the circumstances. It was still all a little confusing for Lee. He still felt like he was in a daze, and had felt that way ever since he’d managed to yank himself free of the Pale Man’s control.
“It’s a stealth-class interceptor. The height of AIC technology. One of these bad boys costs several billion colonial credits. It’s all yours. I can get one of the pilots here to come run you through the procedures for takeoff, and—"
“I’m familiar, thank you,” Lee said, cutting off the deckhand. The young man glanced at Rhule, who dismissed him. “Thank you,” Lee said to Rhule, genuinely appreciative.
“No need for thanks, Captain,” Rhule said, shaking his hand. “Just repaying a debt.” He paused. “And hoping to be back in your debt again.”
Rhule smiled, and Lee found himself smiling as well. “I’ll do my best.”
Rhule must have seen the expression on Ben’s face. “I’ll give you two a minute,” he said, then stepped away and gave them as much privacy as an open docking bay could provide.
“There has to be another way,” Ben said.
Lee found it impossible to look into Ben’s sad eyes. He began walking around the fighter to check the surfaces. “Not that I can think of,” he said.
“Well then, let’s think of one together.”
“There’s no time, Ben. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”
“Stop it! Please just….stop and talk to me. I think I deserve it.”
You deserve more than that. But I can’t give you anything else.
Lee acquiesced and walked over to stand face-to-face with Ben. They were both silent for a moment. Lee finally let out a ragged breath.
“Ben…I’m sorry,” he said. “Really, I am. I’m sorry I wasn’t around more when you were growing up. I could lie and say it was because of my duty, but…”
“But?”
“But that would be an excuse. I guess I’m just too much like my old man.” Ben wrinkled his nose at that. Lee’s father—everyone had just called him the Admiral—could be a real bastard. “I didn’t want you to grow up hating me and resenting me.” He chuckled to himself ruefully. “Boy, did I screw that one up.”
Ben furrowed his brow. “I don’t hate you.”
“I’ve fought more battles than I can count,” Lee said. “I’ve commanded ships, dreadnaughts, armies. I’ve landed on enemy planets and come out the last man standing, but then I ran from the only responsibility in my life that mattered. I ran from you and your mother.” Admitting it hurt worse than anything the Shapeless had done to him.
Ben seemed to be fighting off tears. “I just don’t…I needed you. I always felt like you not being around was my fault, that I chased you away. I could never understand why you chose your crew, strangers, over your own family.”
“That’s the thing. I thought I was choosing you over that, but I was wrong. It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.” Lee felt his shoulders sag. “That and the fact that I couldn’t save your mother. That is my biggest regret.” Now it was his turn to fight off tears.
“You don’t need to be sorry for that. If all of this has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t save everybody, no matter how much you want to.” Ben hesitated. “But you could’ve been there after she died. You could’ve been at the funeral, said goodbye.”
“I should have,” Lee said. At the time, it would have meant forgoing the most important mission in UEF history, the mission he’d staked his entire career on. But now, it seemed so trivial.
I should’ve been there. I should’ve helped Ben recover, go through physical therapy, stand there with him as he eulogized his mother. I should’ve been there.
“I know I have no right to ask, but can you forgive me, son? Ben?” Lee felt his jaw shaking with the tension and emotion that he didn’t realize he’d been holding in.
“Forgive you?” Ben rushed forward and hugged his father. His chin resting on Lee’s shoulder, the tears flowed freely now.
Lee savored every last second of their embrace, because he knew it would be the last time he touched or saw his son. Of course this was a suicide mission. They both knew that.
“I forgave you a long time ago, Dad. I’ve never hated you for the choices you’ve made. How can I? But yeah, I forgive you. Of course I do.”
Lee felt a single tear on his cheek. “Thank you,” he said as their embrace separated.
“So this is it?” Ben asked as he wiped the tears away.
“This is it,” Lee said.
“Time for you to go do some dumb shit to save a whole bunch of people?” Ben asked.
Lee laughed. “Yeah, exactly.” With his HUD connected to his new ship, he activated the loading ramp to deploy and open the inner doors.
Lee started to walk up the ramp. He stopped and turned to his son. “Do me a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Do better than me. Find yourself somebody who can stand you. Have a kid. Be there for them. Be better than me and your grandpa.”
“I’ll try, Dad. Do me a favor?”
Lee smiled. “What’s that?”
“Blow these alien bastards back to whatever hell they come from.”
Lee nodded and disappeared up the ramp.
As the stealth interceptor lifted up off the docking bay floor and towards the plasma-shielded exit, Ben wasn’t sure how he felt. Not happy. Content, maybe? All of the hardships he’d gone through to save his father were worth it just for that brief conversation on an AIC ship, of all places. They’d both found their peace.
“Sorry to rush you, Ben, but your ship is ready,” Rhule informed him.
“My ship?” Ben was confused and surprised.
Rhule showed Ben to a simple transport ship. It wasn’t AIC or UEF; it was unmarked, and quite unremarkable.
Ben looked over the ship. “It’s…nice?”
“It’s neutral. No fri
lls, no weapons, so don’t get yourself into any fights on the way. I’m assuming you still have UEF military codes to get through any trouble?”
“I do, but I doubt they’re up to date.”
Rhule patted Ben on the back. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’ll figure it out.” He handed Ben a hyperdrive. “Once you get to your general, tell him about our proposal of peace and joining forces against those things. If he doesn’t believe you, give him this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s the blueprints and defensive layouts of three of our AIC bases that are previously unknown to your people, based on our intel. Think of it as an act of good faith.”
“Okay. But what if he takes the hyperdrive, rejects the offer of peace, and uses that info to take out those bases?”
Rhule smiled. “They’re abandoned. And we have twenty-two others down there.”
Ben flipped the drive around in his palm. “Pretty empty as far as peace offerings go.”
“Most are,” Rhule said matter-of-factly. “Godspeed, Mr. Saito. We’re all counting on you.”
As he began walking away, Ben asked, “Why do I feel like you’ll be planning for the worst just in case?”
Rhule glanced back with a rueful smile. “Because only fools plan for the best.”
Ben nodded and climbed aboard the transport.
Three
Run!
“What is it?” Ada asked.
She was kneeling next to Congo, who had stopped and was muttering to herself. What was left of the scout base’s secondary wall crumbled around them as Ada shifted her weight.
“Just getting my bearings,” the doctor said.
Ada glanced from Congo’s face to the sky above. AIC battleships were descending quickly. She resisted the urge to tell her to get them faster.
She heard Wan and Clarissa rush up from behind to join them.
“Not a good time for a breather,” Wan said.
Ada gave him a withering stare. Wan shrugged it off. He was right, of course.
Wan produced a pistol from somewhere. It looked to be something he’d scrounged off a dead soldier. Ada suspected he didn’t even know where it came from, just something he did without thinking. As she looked down at her own empty hands, she decided it was a habit she needed to pick up.
